Guardian
by Alja
Summary: AU: The Prince of Amestris is about to choose his future wife among the royalty of the surrounding Kingdoms. Why would he possibly want to have a word with his most trusted guard Rezio the night before? What secret is he going to unravel? Originally a contribution to Royai-week, prompt "AU/Crossover", but somehow it turned into a (slightly) longer story.
1. Is it you?

**Title: Guardian**

**Rating:** K+

**Summary: **AU: The Prince of Amestris is about to choose his future wife among the royalty of the surrounding Kingdoms. Why would he possibly want to have a word with his most trusted guard Rezio the night before? What secret is he going to unravel? Originally a contribution to Royai-week, prompt "AU/Crossover", but somehow it turned into a (slightly) longer story.

**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa.

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

The only light that illuminated the prince's chamber was a small candle on the teak nightstand next to his bed. Night has fallen over the castle and the following day would prove to be an important one – the queen had invited the royal families of the surrounding kingdoms to find a suitable wife for her only son Roy.  
But instead of going to sleep to look his best on the following day, the prince had bestowed a strange task upon his valet. "Kain, please search for Rezio. I have an important issue to discuss with him."  
Kain shook his head after closing the prince's double wing door, a small candle clutched in his hands. He did not understand the prince's enthusiasm with his newest personal guardian. Sure, Rezio was a talented young eunuch and defeated every other aspirant fleetingly, but there was this slight feeling that he wasn't entirely truthful with them...

"Is the Prince alright?"

Rezio's soft voice startled Kain. The slender build of the boy must have enhanced the sneakiness with which he was moving around the castle. Well, he had to be sneaky not to stand out too much – most of the castle's inhabitants had black hair like the queen, whereas the boy's hair shimmered golden in the sunlight. Whenever he passed one of the kids, they looked at him in awe.  
"Rezio, his highness wishes to discuss something with you. I was just about to fetch you."  
"I understand", was Rezio's soft answer and with a court nod, he bid Kain farewell, turning to the door.

* * *

"Milord, you asked for me?"  
"Rezio!"

A handsome young man with jet-black hair and obsidian eyes looked at the hazel eyes of his attendant.  
"Do you know what day it is today?" The corners of the prince's mouth curled upwards slightly, but other than that his face held no answers. Rezio mustered his master for a couple of seconds before answering hesitantly, long lashes laying down on his cheekbone. "I'm sorry, milord, I don't."

Prince Roy chuckled lightly, scooting over on the soft bed, patting it with his left hand as a sign for Rezio to sit down next to him. He didn't even flinch. "Rezio", the prince continued, resting his hand in his lap, eyes turned to his window, "it's been a full year since Mother appointed you as my guardian."  
"Is that so?", was the young boy's only answer. He felt uncomfortable; there was some meaning lying under the prince's words, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Sit down, Rezio. It's a command", Prince Roy's deep voice resounded in the room, calm but clear and Rezio hesitated before taking the twenty steps to the prince's bed (he always counted distances, who knew when this information might be useful?), slowly lowering his body onto the edge of the soft bedding, avoiding his prince's glance.

"Rezio, don't you think it's time you start being sincere to me?"  
The young boy got rigid. Had the prince found out? But how? Why does he –  
"When you started working for me, I was amazed at your skills. None of my Mother's candidates could match your accuracy. It instantly reminded me of the soldiers in the lost Kingdom of Creta."  
Rezio stiffened again, but didn't dare answer the prince. He felt him slide closer.  
"The Swordsmanship of the Cretan was unparalleled. To this very day I can hardly believe that the royal family had been killed. Mother thinks it was the work of an Xingese spy. He found out a weakness in the defense and money was paid for the rest. In the commotion of the King being threatened, they were able to attack the rest of his grounds, effectively killing all of his people. That's her theory."

Rezio finally raised his brown eyes, realizing the prince now stared at him intently, his heart heavy. "Why are you telling me this, milord?"  
"Because I have a reasonable reason to assume that you are either Cretan or have learned your skills by a Cretan survivor. I saw those skills with my own eyes. King Grumman and Mother were close companions and I visited him and his granddaughter Thereza a lot when I was a child."

Prince Roy hit a nerve; Rezio shifted on the bed, his eyes now avoiding the prince's once again.  
"Maybe. I didn't know my master well enough. He taught me how to fight and that was all. He may have been a Cretan. If her Majesty wishes, I can tutor the young squires to preserve the fighting style." Rezio stood up now, straightening his garments and being painfully aware of the thorough glance the prince was mustering him with.  
"You need to sleep, milord. Your guests won't appreciate you looking worn out and it certainly won't charm the young princesses who will be courting for you."

He took a step forward to the doors, away from his prince, but a hand on his wrist stopped him. His breathing hitched as a thumb was stroking along the back of his hand. "I don't care for _them_", Prince Roy murmured and Rezio felt him slide off the bed as well, standing up behind him, never letting go of his hand. "I care about _you_."

"Milord!" Rezio broke away from his grasp, turning around, and realized for the first time just how tall the Prince really was. If the Prince embraced him now, he would hardly reach the tip of his shoulders... He instantly chastised himself for those thoughts. They weren't appropriate _anymore_.

"Believe me, I was more than shocked when I found out I developed feelings for you", Prince Roy announced, sending a tingle through Rezio's heart again and a blush crept up both of their cheeks, "You were not only my guardian, you were a boy! And I was supposed to fall in love with a woman of royal descent, supposed to produce an heir to the throne", Roy's hand wandered up to cup Rezio's cheek and the latter was unable to step away, slightly leaning into the touch he had yearned for for several months, "and then I saw it. The birthmark on your back that you so carefully know how to conceal. I stumbled upon you bathing once." Prince Roy's right hand suddenly found itself under Rezio's shirt and Rezio stopped breathing as a cold metal touched his bare back. He knew what was going to come and he feared it.

"And on that day, I also saw this."

Roy's wrist flicked and something tore. Rezio's hands automatically flew up to his chest to cover what the now cut bandages lying on the ground had secured just a second ago.

"It's you, isn't it? Riza – Princess Thereza of Creta. You survived."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I took some liberty with the descent of the characters. It's not one of my best work (actually it's quite the opposite) and I might come back to give it some proper ending since I don't really know where this might be going right now. AU just isn't for me, I guess.

If somebody wonders: Therezio is the male version of Thereza and Riza seems to be a variant of that. That's why I picked "Rezio" as Riza's alias.


	2. Her reasons

**Author's Note:** Please check out the first chapter again. I changed Riza's full name from "Elizabeth" to "Thereza" in the previous chapter. While Elizabeth is the name we typically connect with Riza, Thereza is the logical choice since it explains where "Riza" and "(The)Rezio" come from. And it gets bonus points for meaning "Guardian" :D

I also changed the summary of the story and changed the nationality of the spy (from Arugan to Xingese). I will possibly change other parts of the fanfiction as I progress with the story. I still don't know where this is supposed to go, but I'll try to find some ending for you.

* * *

This was most certainly not what she had planned.

She wasn't supposed to stand in Prince Roy's chamber in the middle of the night. She wasn't supposed to give into his subtle actions or his gentle touch.  
And mostly she wasn't supposed to let her cover be blown.

But the bandages that had concealed her well-developed bosom now lay on the floor of the Prince's chamber, instantly giving her the impression of being exposed though the thin brown linen shirt she wore did not betray much of her figure. She hadn't lifted her eyes yet, but she was well aware of the gaze the Prince gave her.

"It's you, isn't it? Riza – Princess Thereza of Creta. You survived."

She didn't answer, she just clutched her chest more tightly, suppressing the slight shiver that crept up her back. Both stood in silence for a couple of minutes until she felt a pair of hands brush her own slightly; Roy had draped a warm cloak over her shoulders.

"Please, let us talk about that", he offered, keeping one hand on the small of her back to lead her further into his chamber, to the lounge next to the smoldering fireplace.  
"I will ask someone to bring us tea and some biscuits. Ri-", her caramel eyes had found his obsidian ones after sitting down and Roy's breathing hitched uncharacteristically. "Princess Thereza. I can only assure your safety if you talk to me. Please, make yourself comfortable. I'll return soon."

The double wing door closed silently. Riza' shoulders relaxed and she let out a breath she didn't know she held back. Why was she so nervous? She was constantly at his Prince's side for a year now, never experiencing this kind of anxiety. But the minute he discovers her true identity, she turns back into the _girl_, young and unsure of herself.

Where was the boy, the identity she had worked on so hard for a year before becoming Prince Roy's guardian?  
She had thought her disguise to be perfect: Her father had insisted to put her through a tough training for self-defense, resulting in an unusual broad back for a female. It had taken her a couple of attempts, but after she had perfected a way to tie her breasts so it was only a matter of clothing to let her figure resemble the outline of a boy. Her slightly higher-than-average height helped along, too, and she had perfected the look after cutting her long, flowing blond hair until only a couple of centimeters were left.

Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair. Why did she miss her tresses _now_ of all times?

Suddenly, the doors of the room opened again and Riza could see Roy entering his room, though he seemed somewhat distracted, facing away from her.  
"I said, I can take it from here, Kain. I've got the tea-cart, I don't need any help."  
"But milord!", Riza heard the soft voice of Kain, one of Roy's valets, "I cannot simply let you serve your tea yourself! Please, allow me-"  
"Kain, no-!"

It was too late. The slightly younger boy squeezed into the Prince's chamber and gripped the handles of the tea-tray to wheel it over to the lounge where his eyes settled on the person sitting there. After sitting down, the fabric of her linen shirt had crumpled on her back in a way that caused it to encircle her upper body rather tightly, her breasts becoming apparent - and they were exactly were Kain's glance fell to. His mouth opened and closed, no sound being uttered.

The double wing door closed yet again and they seemed to draw Kain back into reality as his eyes snapped back to his prince. Riza's cheeks turned slightly red and she gripped the cloak on her shoulders, wrapping it safely around her torso.

"Kain, you will tell no one of this, do you understand?"

Roy had returned to Riza's side by now and lay a hand on her shoulder, not realizing she tensed under his touch.

"He-, I mean, she-, Rezio - Rezio's a girl?!", was everything Kain could think about and he started to muster the young woman from head to toe again. "Your guard is a girl!"  
"Kain, it is very rude to eye a lady like that", Roy commented, though his voice held an edge of a threat that was instantly recognised by the valet.

"I am terribly sorry, milord", Kain bowed deeply in front of the pair, adjusting his glasses, "it was not my intention to insult Rezio or to intrude in your privacy. If you'll excuse me..."  
"Two things, Kain", Roy spoke up, holding the fidgeting boy back, "Firstly, word of this will not come out, do you understand?"  
"Of course, milord", he nodded quickly, his eyes turned to the floor, "no soul will hear about any of that."  
"Good", Roy's tone lightened up, the hardness leaving his voice, "secondly, please arrange a meeting with her Majesty. It has to be before the party starts. It's urgent that I talk to her."

"Yes, milord."

With another bow, Kain backed out of the chamber, leaving Roy and Riza alone. Silence filled the room again, until it was interrupted by the soft clacking of the china Roy carefully put on the table in front of Riza. She gripped the handle of her cup wordlessly, enjoying the warmth it radiated since the warmth of the fireplace had died out. "Princess Thereza", Roy started again, sat down on the armchair across from Riza and fixed his eyes on her, "please, tell me what happened. Do you know anything about what lead to the extinction of your country? Why have you disguised yourself as Rezio instead of coming to us, seeking refuge?"

Riza closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Why did she hesitate? Deep inside, she knew she should tell him everything. What was holding her back?

"I suppose this is hard for you, but I can only convince Mother to help you if you tell me everything. So I ask you, no, I beg you", her hazel eyes shot upwards, meeting his obsidian ones which radiated a truthfulness that touched her heart, "tell me everything. Let me understand."

He was met by another couple of minutes of silence. It seemed like he had lost hope of ever learning her secret as he gripped the table, about to stand up, only to finally have Riza speak up: "It happened on the day of your last visit. You were hardly gone for an hour and", she lowered her head, pink covering her cheeks, "you had departed before I had a chance to give you the handkerchief I have embroidered for you during your stay. So I asked my grandfather for permission to follow you on horse, together with a guard of mine. We had to hurry, it was getting darker every minute and I was alone with Jean. We were about half an hour out of the country's borders, when there was a blinding light behind us. We decided to return right away-" her voice broke of and her shaking hands grabbed the cloak around her torso harshly, her knuckles turning white while the shaking spread onto her whole body. It lasted only a few seconds until she felt herself being engulfed in a hug, her body tightly pressed against Roy's. His right hand traveled up and down her back soothingly while his left hand held her in place.

Riza took a couple of seconds to listen to the Prince's strong heartbeat before she recovered and put her hand on his chest to push him away softly. It made her feel uneasy to be so close to him, especially in this state of distress. Thankfully, he obeyed wordlessly.

"When we passed the border", she continued her narration while her eyes closed, the memories becoming vivid in frond of her lids, "we found the first corpses. The nearer we got to the castle, the more corpses littered our way. And the castle -", she hesitated again, swallowing the lump that grown in her throat, "Jean told me to hide while he inspected the grounds. We both expected to see the castle littered in corpses - and we were right. Father, mother, grandfather-" That was the moment where her shield cracked and the young princess started sobbing heartbreakingly. Roy cradled her against his chest, again, despite of her attempts to shove him away and after a few seconds, she stopped struggling and gripped the soft material of his nightgown, wetting it with her tears and letting out her long suppressed emotions.

The pair sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity before the princess's sobs slowly died out, the only thing betraying her outburst being the faint tear streaks on her cheeks. As before, she gently nudged him away, maintaining a short distance between them to keep her mind focused.

"Fearing that the assassins may still be around, Jean packed what he could grasp, some clothes, gold and fled the lands with me. It was only after we left the castle when Jean saw some carved signs into the ground. On our way, we found more and more signs and we concluded that it was some sort of alchemical array."

Roy breathed in heavily, his eyes widening and mustering the girl unbelievingly. "Creta was extinguished by alchemy! So Mother was right! She suspected this for a long time now."

The blonde nodded solemnly. "Our homeland had been destroyed. Every person we knew was dead and our grief was quickly followed by wrath. Our lives didn't matter anymore though Jean was intent to keep me alive, as it was his duty. But I didn't care. All I cared about was finding who was responsible for the death of my country. And I know only of two countries that have the knowledge of alchemy."

"Amestris and Xing", Roy concluded her sentence silently. His eyes lost the compassionate tingle momentarily; it was replaced by a flash of recognition. "And by getting close to the royal family, you expected to find out whether some of our soldiers has committed this crime, am I right?"

She nodded again. "I had to know whether you betrayed us or not since you just left Creta. Jean and I decided to use our combat abilities to apply as personal guards for a member of the royal families of Amestris and Xing respectively, trying to spy on them as much as possible to find out the true culprit. It took us a while to perfect my disguise as a boy, but after we had worked it out, we parted ways to the different countries."

Riza felt Roy's eyes on her body and met his glance. Compassion and understanding was replaced by caution. "And if it was a person under my Mother's regiment that has committed this crime?"  
Riza's eyes hardened as she kept the eye contact. "I would kill him instantly."

"And if it was my Mother's command?" Her eye merely twitched while answering: "I would kill her as well."

"And if it was my command?"

She swallowed. She knew her answer, she had sworn to kill anyone who was connected to the murder of her country. Why couldn't she answer him? She averted her gaze and found she could breathe again, though her tongue still betrayed her.  
It seemed to be answer enough to Roy, who had skidded closer to her again as she now felt their shoulders touching. Unsure of herself, she looked up to him at the same time his velvet voice asked her another question: "Do you think it was us?"

She hesitated, casting her eyes yet away from the Prince, back to the empty cup of tea in front of her. "... no", the princess answered eventually.

She heard Roy sigh in relief and she couldn't help herself but smile slightly. "I've heard how her Majesty tried to find the culprit herself, sending out troops to analyse the lands of Creta. I heard her send out troops again and again, confirming herself that every member of my family was dead. And after she heard that no remnants of my body have been found, she even seemed to have increased the investigation."

"What?", Roy spun around and grasped her shoulders, causing her to gasp surprisedly, "Mother knew there was a chance you were alive?"

"Well, yes", she answered, albeit confused, "I once overheard her telling Falman-"  
"Why didn't she tell **me**?", he cursed loudly and let go off her shoulders to pound across the room, his hand tangled into his dark hair, further tousling it while he muttered something unintelligible under his breath, clearly distraught. It seemed he got a hold of himself quite quickly though, as he stopped in front of his bed and sighed.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I can't change what happened." He turned back to the Princess, eyeing her carefully, "What matters now is that you're safe. There is no way I will let you be my personal guardian anymore." Riza opened her mouth to protest, but a raised hand of Roy silenced her immediately. Funny, she thought to herself, she still chose to follow his command though she was practically his equal.  
"No. I will not endanger you. Your country may be lost, but you are alive. There's no point in letting you die some meaningless death."  
"I would only die protecting you, milord-"  
"I'm not your lord, Riza!", he grasped her shoulders again and she stared into his deep obsidian eyes which softened immediately, "Please, Princess Thereza, I cannot have you risk your life for me. You are the only royal survivor of Creta and even if your country is gone, you have to keep your bloodline intact."

Riza chuckled lightly and lay her hands onto Roy's cautiously. "Technically, I'm not a princess anymore. And after you called me 'Rezio' for a year now and seem pretty comfortable with calling me 'Riza', I think it's perfectly alright for you do so", she squeezed his hands lightly and smiled upon the memory, "just like when we were little."

Roy's cheek flushed a deep, red color as he drew his hands back, scratching his head sheepishly, and looked to his bed again that was still unused. "When we were little, you used to call me 'Roy' without any title so... please, go ahead."

"Thank you, Roy."

As she stood up from her seat, she tightened her grip on the cloak that was wrapped around her shoulders and made her way to the doors, "I should go to my room-"  
"No!", he answered quickly, grabbing one of her hands to keep her from proceeding, "I-, damn, I should have done that during the day! There is no way I'll let you wander off by yourself. You are now under my protection, my personal guest. Please, stay."

Riza cocked a thin, blond brow, mustering the boy in front of her incredulously. "You want me to stay in your chamber? With you? Roy, this is highly inappropriate, you are still the prince of this country and you are supposed to choose your future wife tomorrow evening. What would she say if she heard you spent the night before meeting her with another woman in your chambers?"

"I insist! I don't want to inform anyone of your presence before talking to Mother. I will have you prepared your own chamber by tomorrow-"

"You forget that I was guarding you for one year, not the other way round." She took a step forward, lifted her free hand to Roy's cheek and smiled at him. She felt him lean into her touch and it caused her insides to tingle. "I'll be fine, trust me. I promise I'll come back first thing in the morning."

They stared in each other's eyes until Roy looked away defeatedly, still holding her hand tightly. "Please, be safe." Riza smiled again. "I will", she answered him, stood on her tip-toes and pecked his cheek quickly. She turned away instantly to hide the rising heat in her face, but out of the corner of her eyes, she had seen Roy lift his hand to said cheek, a dumbfounded expression on his face. "Good night, _Roy_", she murmured, grasped a small candle on a sideboard and stepped out into the hallways.


End file.
